Happy Diwali everyone!!!!!
So I just found out recently that North Indians mainly celebrate Diwali as the return of Rama to Ayodhya?? This was very shocking to me who was raised in the telugu states. I googled it and found out later that North India and South India have different stories for why they celebrate Diwali!! Fascinating stuff.
While North India celebrates Diwali as Rama's return, us Telugu folks celebrate Deepavali as the day Satyabhama (Shri Krishna's badass wife) wrecked the demon Narakasura. The day before Diwali is the day she killed Narakasura, and it's called Narakachaturdasi, and the next day (Diwali) is celebrated as the day she and Krishna returned to Dwaraka after their victory and the town celebrated by lighting diyas and burning crackers.
Call me biased but I love this story way more as the reason for Diwali.
Just look at the Queen, slaying demons and look at Krishna, the divine Avatar containing universes inside himself, just sitting there like a swooning maiden amazed by his badass wife!!
Here's another portrait of the scene by the famed telugu artist, Bapu.
And here's another one I found of the scene.
What they all have in common is that the artists and writer of Bhagavatam all agreed that Krishna is a damsel in distress watching his badass wife in utter awe as she takes down the demon no one else could. And I, for one, applaud them for this stellar decision!!
